Founded in 1965 and opened in 1970, Hampshire’s educational approach has long celebrated experimentation and stepping off the beaten path at every opportunity. Students create their own route to an undergraduate degree, crafting bespoke academic goals that often would be unthinkable at a conventional college. Now, after years of financial struggles and declining enrollment – the school currently has around 625 students, less than half of the number from a decade prior -- it will permanently close by the end of 2026.
“It's absolutely tragic, for one thing. A college like Hampshire that's been around for so long has impacted so many people who are a pretty significant presence in the world and have made some great change," said Pavel Cenkl, Dean of Academic Affairs at Prescott College.
The Arizona institution is one of the colleges that will accept Hampshire students.
“What's key to me is that Prescott College is so well aligned with Hampshire's pedagogy, with the student experience, that I'm hopeful that we're able to provide a similar experience for the students who are clearly going through a traumatic event,” Cenkl continued.
From Sterling College, which announced its impending closure last year, to Goddard and Green Mountain colleges and Quest University, Cenkl says Hampshire is the latest victim of an accelerating closure epidemic for colleges of its ilk.
“And I think if there's one thing that these colleges have in common is that they are small, independent, progressive, looking at experiential education, looking at community engagement, looking at how communities engage with their local environments, and so on," he told WAMC. "And unfortunately, the sort of scale of higher education today isn't necessarily conducive to colleges that size.”
Another school set to take in Hampshire students is one that will allow them to remain in the same zip code – the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams.
“We're in era when it's a hyper competitive market to recruit students and good faculty, and so for all smaller, especially private institutions that don't have the resources that a public institution has, it's a really difficult moment," said President James Birge. “While it’s often the characteristics of the institution are attributed to kind of a liberal setting- That's not what caused the institution to close. I think it's a financial position that was difficult for them to maintain. But their curriculum is really quite strong. The design of the liberal arts is to expand minds, to help students understand different perspectives. And I don't really think this is a statement about that particular form of curriculum, as much as it is that it's tough to operate small colleges with fewer resources.”
Like Prescott, it’s not MCLA’s first time working with small, independent liberal arts colleges facing collapse.
“We were helpful for Southern Vermont College when they closed a few years ago," said Birge. "Wells College in Upstate New York sent some students our way, and so we, unfortunately, have the experience necessary to help students from another institution complete their degree.”
Bennington College in Vermont is also working with Hampshire. Heather Beveridge, director of admissions, says Bennington and Hampshire are kindred spirits in terms of valuing student-driven learning and connecting academics to real work happening in the community.
“So, it seems like a natural fit that students that had been at Hampshire and were looking to continue that style of education might be looking to Bennington,” she said.
Beveridge says Bennington is working as hard as possible to facilitate an easy transfer process for students.
“What they really want at the moment is clarity, right? They have a lot of uncertainty in their lives, and so for us to be able to move quickly and to be able to say to them whether or not there can be a space for them at Bennington, and we'll certainly be as affirmative as possible with as many of those students as possible, but also to be able to say to them, this is how your credits would transfer,” she explained.
While the response to Hampshire’s closure has moved at a quick clip, it’s clear that the resonance of the loss continues to echo through the higher-ed landscape, as MCLA’s Birge told WAMC.
“The rich tapestry of American higher education is that we have lots of different kinds of institutions for people to choose from," said the college president. "And when we lose a place like Hampshire College, it feels a little bad for all of us.”
Other institutions accepting Hampshire students include Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, UMass Amherst, and the Massachusetts College of Art & Design.
